The Great Favor Kavanaugh Has Done For Women And The Political System

Micheline Maynard
4 min readSep 28, 2018

Painful. Disappointing. Disillusioning.

For many women, Brett Kavanaugh’s belligerent testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee was heart breaking. So was seeing senators defend him, and denigrate Christine Blasey Ford’s brave story of alleged sexual abuse.

As hard as it is to believe, Kavanaugh has done a great favor for women, and the American political system. And we are lucky that it has taken place before the mid-term elections.

Women have found out who their allies are, as well as their doubters. It’s clear to see who values power above ethics. Who would rather be a part of a club of the power hungry than represent their voters.

We no longer need wonder who to trust. Those who are trustworthy are showing us who they are. Those who are not also have done so. We needn’t feel resentful at being double crossed.

It’s all out in the open, or will be after the Senate votes on Kavanaugh’s confirmation.

We’ve always known that the male hierarchy was in power. Now, we know how much it wants to cling to power.

So much, that it will elevate a whining, partisan 53-year-old who apparently did not hesitate to lie before a Senate committee, and whose greatest allegiance seems to be to beer.

For these public officials, it is no longer possible to skate behind a cloak of support for women or project honor among thieves, saying one thing in one context, but acting in an entirely different one.

That was never made so clear as on Friday morning, when Arizona Republican Senator Jeff Flake announced he would vote to send Kavanaugh’s nomination to the floor. Soon after, he was confronted by two women as he entered a Senate elevator.

And they let him have it.

Flake has long fashioned himself as a good guy, a Mr. Rogers of Republican politics. He made a jovial appearance on public radio’s Wait, Wait Don’t